Review: Simple Kind to Lips Essential Lip Balm SPF 15

Happy Monday! Coming back after a week break to rest, I want to talk about a product I’ve been reaching for a lot the past couple of weeks that I’ve been trying it. Today it’s the Simple Kind to Lips Essential Lip Balm SPF 15, which I pulled out of my lip balm stash earlier this month. It’s been moving around the apartment with me since, so I’ve been putting this product to the test, and want to discuss my experiences using it.

First of all, Simple as a brand, at the time of writing are a little tricky for me to feel comfortable vouching for, as the cruelty-free status of this brand seems to have conflicting information. The brand itself and some other sites claim the brand doesn’t test on animals, but other sites have counter claims. So if like me you’re trying to go cruelty-free, interpret the conflicting information at your own discretion. I bought this product long before I went actively cruelty-free, so bear this in mind as it’s not a reflection of my current spending habits. I don’t like to waste product, so although I’m nervous to give Simple my money right now, I don’t think it’s a good idea to just throw the product away.

With that out of the way, let’s talk about the product itself. The tube itself is too small and slightly too narrow to photograph, so I’m going to quote the claims:

“Our Essential Lip Balm is a perfect blend of active ingredients and vitamin goodness to give long lasting daily care and protection. Perfect for even sensitive skin.

For best results – Apply frequently to your lips throughout the day.”

Compared to a lot of other products, the claims are pretty tame, almost boring. But for me they’re fairly accurate. I use this frequently throughout the day as my lips feel dry or sore. The number of times really varies from day to day, but I’d guess my average is roughly 5-6 times a day, although sometimes I just like to apply this because I like the feeling of having a lip balm on my lips. The “perfect for even sensitive skin” part feels like an awkward copy-paste to me, but I do find this doesn’t irritate my lips, which can be prone to irritation. Some lip product applicators like the fuzzy nozzles on squeezy tubes can irritate my lips. With this in mind, I don’t consider my lips ‘sensitive’ but sensitive enough to be wary.

The packaging itself is pretty standard: it’s a twist-up tube with a cap. One of the things off the bat I want to mention is that I find the product has the tendency to push itself back down the tube when I’m applying the balm to my lips. I have to press around the inner tube to prevent this as much as possible.

What I found surprising is the size of the tube itself. Side by side I’ve photographed this lip balm next to the Soft Lips Vitamin Enriched Lip Balm SPF 20, which you can read my review for. The Soft Lips tube is unconventionally slimmer and smaller compared to most lip balm bullets, but I found the Simple lip balm bullet to surprisingly large. I’m not sure if it was just transitioning from the smaller lip bullet back to a larger size, but I noticed the difference: using Simple’s lip balm bullet feels much more clunky and difficult to use only on the lips in comparison. I don’t recall having this issue with other lip balms of a similar size so this was an unexpected reaction.

As far as the lip balm itself, I think this is great to use if you don’t intend to wear other lip products on top. Like the claims say, it is best used when applied frequently throughout the day, so it’s a major inconvenience as it’s efficiency comes from frequent use. So if you plan to wear lip products on top, I’d opt for a different lip balm or have a separate one aside for the days you plan to wear lip products.

On top of that, on days I tried wearing lip products on top of this, they struggle to apply because of the formula, which is quite thick and has a slickness to it that prevents lip products from sitting on the lips. If you want to make this lip balm work with lip products on top, I suggest blotting your lips with a tissue to remove excess texture from the lip balm, then apply your chosen lip balm on top. This works for me, but because this lip product is more effective as something applied multiple times throughout the day, I find it’s usually not worth it.

As I’ve spent the past couple of weeks wearing minimal or no makeup, this lip balm has been a really pleasant experience. I can reach for it and use it easily without a mirror, and it moves with me between my desk, the living room or my makeup bag. My only gripe is that because I use it frequently as designed, in the 2 and a half weeks I’ve been using this, I’m over halfway through the tube already. It’s a bit disappointing to work through it so quickly, but as an everyday day-time lip balm, I think it’s a decent product. I would prefer it to feel a little bit more lightweight, but I don’t mind it as I assume it’s the SPF in the formula that gives it that slick, slightly heavier texture.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog post, it means a lot to me to receive your support. I hope you are happy and healthy, and I’ll speak to you again soon.